Zombies: The Black Rock (5 page)

‘
Are
you married?’ asked the redhead, turning to face her.

Lisa
managed to look away just in time.

‘
Ha,’
she laughed.

‘
What’s
so funny?’

‘
I
am not married.’

‘
You
laughed, though.’

‘
I
know, sorry,’ said Lisa, reaching for the shampoo.

‘
Why
did you laugh?’

‘
I’m
gay,’ said Lisa.

‘
Oh,’
replied Shelly. A smile crept up the side of her face. ‘That
makes two of us then.’ Unconsciously, she looked Lisa up and
down and then down and up again. ‘Could you help wash my back?’
Their smiles grew even wider, as Shelly flicked her hair to one side
and offered Lisa her back.

***

Memories
flashed in his mind’s eye, as he sat back against the wall.
Lucy’s beautiful little face shone like a light of love in his
heart. Just a single thought of her made him smile. Lucy was the
greatest achievement he had ever done. He had never loved something
so much. Images of the moment the midwife handed Lucy to him appeared
within his head. That had been the single greatest moment of his
life. Lucy could have grown up to do anything. She could have been
anyone. She was such a good girl. She always tried her best. She was
so polite and kind. He had been so proud of her. The image of her
bloody face consumed Bishop, as the memory of biting through her
throat haunted him. Natasha had been cowering behind Lucy, pushing
the young girl towards Bishop, as Natasha scrambled away.

‘
Bishop,
are you okay?’ asked Beth.

‘
What?’

‘
Are
you okay? You look sad.’

Concern
could
be seen on the small flap of skin that consisted of Beth’s
face.

Bishop
forced a smile.

‘
I’m
fine. I was just thinking about things.’

‘
Were
you thinking about Lucy?’

‘
Yes.’

‘
You
must have been a good dad.’ Beth’s face turned sad. ‘I
don’t remember what my mum and dad look like.’

***

‘
That’s
good,’ Sheridan gasped through clenched teeth. The men’s
shower room come toilet was locked, leaving her and Levi alone. Her
clothes had been removed, scattered on the white tile floor. Her
palms were pressed up against the wall, as she bent over for him. The
muscular young man was stood behind her, his manhood deep inside her
body. The sound of his thighs slapping off her ass echoed around the
room. One hand gripped her shoulder, as the other held her hip.
Sheridan could feel his breath in her ear. ‘Yes. Yes. Yes,’
she chanted over and over. For once she wasn’t thinking about
being eaten alive by brainless zombies. For once her heart wasn’t
full of fear. For once she didn’t want to curl into a ball and
start crying. For once she wasn’t mourning for her lost family.
For once she was focusing on the hard organ penetrating her body and
sending waves of pleasure through the core of her being.

A
loud bang echoed through the safe room.

It
sounded like an explosion.

Levi
pulled out of her.

‘
What
the fuck was that?’

They
could hear panicked voices outside of the room.

***

Colt
hopped off his cot and rushed down the full length of the safe room.
The others gathered around him, as the loud thumping on the
vault-like door increased in volume. Suddenly, part of the door bent
inwards. The entire group gasped and backed away. How was it possible
to bend metal that thick? What was outside? A long silver claw
slashed through the metal like scissors going through paper.

‘
What
the fuck is that?’

One
by one, they began to run to their cots, grabbing their things.

Colt
stood still, watching.

Three
claws slashed through the door, as another large indentation bent the
metal.

‘
We
got to go, Colt,’ said Lisa, pulling him away. ‘We got to
go!’

***

Bishop
stepped out into the dark corridor. Beth was strapped to his back. A
menacing howl echoed through the silent corridors. It sounded like
something that belonged in the darkest depths of hell. There were no
zombies to be seen. The red glow of Natasha’s scent filled the
air. It consumed Bishop, wrapping around him.

‘
She’s
here...’ he muttered.

‘
Bishop,
we should go,’ said Beth, sounding scared.

Loud
bangs echoed through the base.

‘
She’s
here,’ Bishop began to walk, almost on auto-pilot.

‘
Bishop,
we should go.’

But
Bishop couldn’t hear her. He couldn’t hear anything. The
thirst for murder had taken over his brain. Natasha was here. The
woman that killed his baby girl was here. The woman he would follow
to the edge of the earth was here. And now she would die.

***

‘
They
are outside,’ said Oliver.

The
group were gathered at the large metal door at the far end of the
room. Lisa cocked her sub-machine gun, as she stepped up to the door.
‘We have no option. We have to get out of here. Open the door.
We will have to let them in. Kill them as they come through the
door.’

‘
Is
that really a good idea?’ asked Sheridan.

‘
It
is our only hope,’ countered Shelly, approaching the door.

‘
I
don’t know about this. They were carrying weapons,’ added
Levi.

‘
Do
you want to wait for that thing instead?’ Lisa pointed to the
thing smashing through the other door.

‘
Good
point.’

Shelly
slammed her hand on the door release. The sound of metallic locks
clicking and scraping reached their ears. The door opened. The crowd
of zombies outside forced it open faster than the group expected.
Half of the zombies fell to the floor, at they poured in like a wave
of brainless dead heads. Lisa opened fire first and then the whole
group did. Brains, blood and gore, sprayed over the vault, floor and
walls, as the zombies dropped like flies. The ones behind them picked
up the weapons of the fallen and kept coming forward. The vault door
wasn’t very wide, which caused the zombies to come through in
lines of three. The group picked their shots. It was like shooting
fish in a barrel.

***

‘
I
think we should go with them,’ said Dwayne.

‘
No.
No. No. We will be safe here. We will be safe here,’ the doctor
in the white lab coat guided the four children into the men’s
shower room. Madness had consumed him like a virus. He wasn’t
thinking straight. He wasn’t thinking at all. He just knew that
if he hid the creature of darkness wouldn’t find him. If it
did, he would give it the children. They would be his offering.

‘
Hey,
what are you doing?’ Colt rushed over to the shower room.

The
doctor slammed the door shut and flicked the lock.

‘
Hey!’
Colt rattled the handle. ‘Open the fucking door,’ he
ordered. The doctor backed away into the shower room. The four
children were gathered in the far corner. They looked scared. ‘Open
the door!’ Colt stepped back and tried to kick the door in. His
thick black boots bounced off the door, not even making a dent. ‘Open
the door!’ Colt glanced at the metal vault-like door of the
safe room, as the top half of it was ripped open. His jaw nearly hit
the floor, as he looked at the face of the alien monster. It was like
looking into the mind of an insane man. Something like this shouldn’t
exist in this world. It was a thing born of nightmares. Colt backed
away. He turned. He ran.

***

The
group stepped over the fallen zombies and rushed out into the
corridor. The red warning lights spiralled on the walls. Zombies were
shuffling down the corridors towards them. The group started to head
left when Natasha grabbed Oliver by the wrist. She held a finger to
her lips. She tugged him down the corridor to the right. Oliver
thought about it for a moment. He glanced back at the group. Did he
stay with them or did he go with Natasha? Fear was making his brain
stupid. Natasha pulled him hard and like the coward that he was,
Oliver went with her.

***

Bishop
stepped out of the stairwell and glanced down the corridor. He could
see a group of humans disappearing around a corner at the far end,
but the red glow of Natasha’s scent was moving in a completely
different direction. He could have gone after the humans for extra
fresh flesh, but Natasha had only been here a few seconds ago. He
pulled out his revolver and headed after his wife.

***

Colt
headed out of the safe room a few seconds after the others. He headed
to the left, rushing after his friends. He turned at the end of a
corridor, coming face to face with a zombie. The thing grabbed him by
the shoulders, drawing him in, as its teeth snapped at the air. Colt
pushed the bastard up against the wall, using his superior strength
to his advantage. He swung a fist, striking the zombie across the
jaw. He pushed it down to the floor and then noticed several more
zombies coming his way. He could see the group running away down the
far end of the corridor. He had been completely cut off by the
zombies.

‘
Shit!’
He turned around and rushed the other way.

***

The
black beast walked on its hind legs into the room. Claws cracked the
hard floor. It sniffed at the air. Suddenly, it paused in front of
the male shower room. It moved so quickly that you couldn’t
follow its movements with the naked eye. The beast spun like a
spinning top, swinging its long black tail through the air. The
spike-like tip ripped through the wall of the shower room like some
kind of demolishing ball. Dust and debris filled the air. The sound
of sobbing could be heard coming out of the room. The alien lowered
its head down, extending its neck forward as if it were some kind of
rubbery kid’s toy. The Doctor was stood in the middle of the
room; piss ran down the inside of his legs.

‘
I
have the kids for you...’

The
alien bit off the top of his head, removing the skull.

It
sucked on his brains as if he was some kind of human straw.

The
slurping sound was sickening.

His
lifeless body shook and convulsed.

The
children screamed.

The
alien began to chew him up, biting through his torso like a human
eating a breadstick.

It
took less than five seconds for the doctor to be eaten.

The
agonising screams of the children filled the air, as the alien
devoured them too.

***

Lisa
led the group up the stairs. They were sprinting for their lives. An
emergency exit popped open, as they rushed out onto the roof. A full
moon was sitting high in the sky, partly consumed by the rain clouds.
The rain continued to lash down, as strong winds whipped across the
roof top. Zombies were pouring up the stairs behind them, as at least
three dozen more had already been trapped on the roof. A military
helicopter was parked on a helipad in the centre of the roof.

‘
What
are we going to do?’ asked Sheridan.

‘
The
helicopter,’ said Levi.

‘
You
can fly?’ asked Lisa.

‘
I’m
a pilot. I have never flown something like that, but we have to try,
right?’

‘
Get
to the helicopter,’ ordered Lisa, as she slapped in her last
magazine into her sub-machine-gun. Levi, Andy, Lisa, Sheridan and
Shelly sprinted forward as fast as they could, trying to reach the
helicopter before the zombies cut off their path.

***

Natasha
and Oliver sprinted down two flights of stairs and headed through a
broken door into a corridor. They skidded to an abrupt halt at the
sight of a horde of zombies. The un-dead hadn’t seen them. They
both headed the other way. At the far end of the corridor was a
T-junction. More zombies awaited them. Natasha had to think fast. The
decaying corpses of the walking dead were everywhere.